The Unwilling Hero
by Slaymesoftly
Summary: Season Four Spuffy. Spike and Buffy have to work out what their relationship is going to be post spell, and pre Adam. This was my entry for round 16 of Seasonal Spuffy.


**The Unwilling Hero**

"I want to keep Spike."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Are you crazy?"

"In the interest of my sanity, I am going to assume you are being humorous."

"No, no I'm serious. Shut up, Spike," she said over her shoulder at the now growling vampire. "See, here's the thing—"

"There's always a thing," Anya said, nodding wisely.

Ignoring her, Buffy continued, "See, he can't hurt us, right? So we can use him... for practice. I can practice finding him with that Spidey-sense you say I should have, Xander and Willow can practice their staking technique, you can—"

She paused and rested her hand on Spike's shoulder again. She could feel the steady vibrations from the growl rumbling in his chest, and she squeezed his shoulder. "I don't mean _really_ stake you," she said. "I mean, like with a fake stake – made of rubber or something. You know, just to be sure they can hit the right spot hard enough."

"Had quite enough of being experimented on and staked with non-wood objects, Slayer," he said. His expression was a combination of pleading and anger that Buffy had never expected to see in the dangerous vampire. "If that's your plan, count me out. Just use the real thing and put me out of my misery now."

"What do you mean 'experimented on'? I thought they just made it so you couldn't bite?"

"Had a bit of fun with me first, didn't they? Wanted to see if I was worthy of having done to me whatever it was they did. The old harridan that runs that place seemed quite pleased that I didn't turn into a gibbering idiot or try to off myself while they ran their bloody 'tests' on me. Told me I was the only vamp they'd found strong enough to 'use' – whatever that meant."

"Harridan?" Giles raised his eyebrows at Spike. "Bit mannish and rude? Unpleasant old cow?"

Spike and Giles exchanged frowns. "Some of the things she did to me went way beyond rude, but yeah. Sounds like her. Friend of yours?"

"Not hardly," Giles muttered, turning toward Buffy. "I don't want you to do anything... untoward... with Spike until I've had a chance to talk with him more about his experiences."

"Untoward? What does that even mean? I wasn't planning to do anything... weird... you know. I just meant I wanted to keep him around for a while."

"Well, that's a bit disappointing, pet," Spike said, regaining a bit of his bravado now that he knew Giles wanted him kept around too. "Was kind of looking forward to—" Buffy's increased pressure with the hand she still rested on his shoulder stopped him before he could finish. He winced, but stopped talking loudly enough for anyone else to hear him. Instead, he whispered, "Admit it, Slayer. It did sound a bit dirty, didn't it?"

"Shut up, Spike." Face flaming, Buffy moved away from his smirk to talk to Giles. "Okay, then I guess he can be your vampire. As long as I get to borrow him whenever I want to."

"He's still right here in the room," Spike said with a muffled growl. "Instead of talking about me like I was a piece of meat, why not ask me if I'll do what you want?"

"Would you?" All eyes turned to him at the same time. "Why would you help us if we don't make you do it?"

"Yeah. It won't be any fun if you do it willingly." Xander seemed almost indignant. "I mean, slave-Spike is a great idea; willing helper Spike – just doesn't have the same ring to it."

"Slave Spike? Over my undead body!" Spike almost stood up, bringing the chair with him.

"Oh, relax," Buffy said, glaring at Xander. "He doesn't mean _slave_ slave, he means more like a... a... pet. You know, like something obedient."

"Don't do 'obedient', Slayer," he growled, relaxing a little. "At least for real. Now if you want to play a little bit..." he said in another whisper. "Be happy to teach you how to be a proper dominatrix. I'm guessing you'd take to it like—"

Buffy smacked him across the back of the head. "Shut up, Spike."

Her half-hearted swat hadn't really hurt him and he laughed. "See what I mean?" he managed to get out before a serious slayer glare made him decide to curb his tongue.

"So, if that's settled, here's the plan. We'll feed Spike blood from the butcher, and in return he'll help whichever one of us needs or could use the help of a vampire... for anything. If he helps, he gets fed; if he doesn't..."

"No treats for you!" Xander said, grinning at Spike. "Oh, I'm going to like this!"

"If that berk tries to pretend stake me, I'm going to bite him," Spike warned Buffy. "I don't care if my head explodes. I'm going to bite him."

Buffy sighed. "Let's start with something easier, 'k? We'll find someplace... creepy, and I'll try to find you by using my spidey-sense."

"Spidey-sense?"

"She means," Giles said with a sigh, "the ability to sense vampires that she was given along with the rest of her powers."

"If she's got it, why does she need to practice? Not that I'm objecting to a night out, mind you, but—"

"It doesn't work very well," Buffy mumbled at the same time as Willow piped up "Giles says she needs more practice. She should be better at it than she is."

Throwing Willow a betrayed glare, Buffy said, "I've been busy. Stopping apocalypses, fighting demon snakes, sending my re-soulled boy friend to hell, finding out that even when I'm not the only girl in world anymore I still have to save it, fighting ghost Indians that turn into bears... who's had time to worry about ordinary old vampires?"

"Well, let's go then, Slayer. If you can sense where I am when I'm stalking you, other vamps should be a breeze."

"Full of yourself much?"

"Just sayin', Slayer. I'm an old vamp and I know how to be invisible if I want to."

"With that hair?" Giles raised his eyebrows to match his tone of voice.

Spike shrugged. "Don't usually want to, do I? No good being a Big Bad if nobody knows you're there."

"So, you're saying you can hide from me, and if I want to find you I'm going to have to find you by..." Buffy looked at Giles. "What is it I'll be doing again?"

He sighed and almost rolled his eyes, settling instead for taking his glasses off and pinching his nose. He shot the snickering vampire a glare before answering.

"You'll be using the senses you were given to feel where he is. There should be some sort of warning... a prickling on your skin, a sense of unease—"

"Oh, like a tingle on the back of my neck?"

"Possibly. So you _do_ know what I'm talking about?"

"Maybe? I mean, sometimes I can tell there are vamps around."

"Well why didn't you say so before this?"

"I thought you meant I should be able to tell where they are and how far away and stuff like that. They always give me tingles on the back of my neck." Buffy pouted. "If that's all it is, I don't see why it's worth practicing." She sat down on the couch and crossed her arms.

"Can you feel Spike?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I can _see _Spike, Giles. He's right there." She pointed at Spike and shook her head. "I don't need to feel him."

Giles had released Spike from his bonds and gestured for him to stand up, saying to Buffy, "Shut your eyes, please, Buffy." When she complied with an offended sniff, he pointed toward the kitchen. Moving so quickly and silently that the humans in the room blinked in surprise, Spike disappeared into the kitchen and placed himself against the refrigerator. Becoming perfectly still, he appeared to blend into the shadows.

"All right, Buffy," Giles said. "Without opening your eyes, stand up and point to where you think Spike is."

She tossed her hair and stood up, her brows coming together in a frown as she could no longer feel anything from the chair Spike had been sitting in. Turning slowly, she tried to track the faint prickling on her neck that said 'vampire'.

"Okay, not funny, Giles. What did you do, send him outside?"

"No. You may open your eyes if you think that will help."

Buffy's eyes flew open and she glanced at where she'd last seen Spike, frowning when he wasn't there, even though she hadn't heard him move. She walked over and peered at the rug.

"Did you dust him just to trick me?"

Giles sighed. "No. He is still with us. It remains to be seen if we will be happy about that," he added, deliberately looking toward the kitchen. Buffy didn't pick up on his hint and began to prowl around the apartment, peering into the bathroom and bedroom before stopping with her hands on her hips.

"I _know _he's here! I can feel him! I can..." she trailed off as she realized she hadn't felt Spike well in the back rooms, but could now that she was back in the living room. She took a tentative step in one direction, stopped, closed her eyes and turned slowly until she was facing the kitchen. She opened her eyes long enough to glance at the floor to make sure it was clear, then closed them and began letting her tingles guide her toward Spike's hiding place.

Feeling in front of her with her hands, she found the counter and moved around it, still with her eyes shut as she felt the tingles getting stronger. She moved forward, hands in front of her until she ran into the refrigerator. Frowning, she opened her eyes just as Spike said "Gotcha!" and pretended to bite her neck. Before the chip could fire, he turned the fake bite into a soft brush of his lips that only Buffy noticed.

"You did not 'got' me!" she said, trying to hide her embarrassed flush. "I found you."

"You found a kitchen appliance, Slayer. The Big Bad was standing beside it."

"Close enough," she muttered, moving back to the living room and away from the lips that had felt insanely good on her throat.

"It is not close enough," Spike said, following her out to the other room. "While you were trying to stake the fridge, I was biting you."

"Well that's because my eyes were closed," she argued, appealing to Giles for support. "I don't fight with my eyes closed!"

"You do hunt in the dark, do you not?" Giles said, giving Spike a speculative glance. "Spike is... and you have no idea how much this pains me to admit... quite right. While you did eventually almost locate him, it took much too long and he still would have had you. No doubt," he added quickly as she narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists, "you would have recovered quickly enough to get free, but it could have been much too close for comfort."

"Fine! I'll go practice. Come on, Spike. Time for you to try that when I don't have my eyes shut."

She marched to the door and went out, not even waiting to see if he was following her. Spike grabbed his coat and ran after her, not bothering to close the door behind him. Giles gave an exasperated sigh and went over to close it himself. He could see Buffy and Spike arguing as they crossed the parking lot with a speed that would have let normal humans behind. Shaking his head, he shut the door and went back to his desk.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"You were cheating!"

"How was I cheating? All I did was stand perfectly still and let you try to find me."

"Well... you were... too quiet. You weren't even breathing!"

He stopped and stared at her until she turned around. "What? I'm just saying, you were too quiet and too still and..."

"And I'm a vampire," he finished for her. "A dead man. I can be quiet and still for hours, Slayer. You can't count on those senses to find me. And I can see in the dark better than you can."

"Well, that's not fair," she grumbled. "You've got all the advantage."

"Not all of them, I don't. But I have a lot. Just don't use them very often 'cause I like a good fight. Doesn't mean other vamps won't though. You need to work on that sensing thing."

"If anybody sees you helping me, they'll take away your vampire card," she said, nudging him with her elbow.

"Think I lost that when those sadists put this chip in my head. If we meet any other vamps, I expect you to protect me."

"You expect that, do you?" She glanced sideways at him and giggled.

"Too bloody right, I do. 'S what you do, innit? Protect the helpless? Can't get much more helpless than a vamp that can't bite."

"I'm pretty sure you're not helpless, Spike. You're tricky. You'd think of some way to do whatever you wanted to."

"If you think that, why haven't you staked me? Aren't you worried about what I might do?"

"I probably should be, I guess... But then, who would I practice using my spidey-sense on?"

"Why don't you try it on the vamp luring behind that tree?" Spike jerked his head toward the shadows near an empty building.

Without answering him, Buffy slipped her stake out of her sleeve and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and concentrated, having no trouble feeling Spike right beside her, but the other vampire was just a vague tingle with no direction to it. Shrugging, she opened her eyes and ran toward the shadows, reacting without thought when one of the shadows leapt at her. Her stake went into the unfortunate vampire's chest and his dust drifted toward the ground.

"Slayer!"

Spike's voice was all it took for Buffy to realize she could still feel strong tingles, even though he was standing too far away for it to be him. She whirled, just in time to duck a punch at her head. Kicking the new attacker in the knee, she was able to back up far enough to see that there were two more working their way around behind her.

"Got your back, pet." The more familiar signature was suddenly right behind her. Confident that nothing would sneak up on her from the back, she whirled to her left and staked that startled vampire before he could say anything. She turned to face the other uninjured one, only to find him dangling from Spike's hand, his legs kicking and his snarls getting weaker as he was unable to suck in enough air to make sounds.

She ran toward the first attacker, now trying to hobble away, and ran her stake through his back. Not waiting to watch him dust, she ran back to Spike and staked the one he was holding. As the dust drifted away, she stared at her companion with bewildered eyes.

"Did you just help me?" she asked. "And are you okay? Didn't that make your chip fire?"

"I did. I am. And it didn't. Got no idea what any of that means and I don't want to talk about it." He spun around, coat swishing behind him, and began to stride off.

"Thank you," Buffy whispered, watching him disappear into the night. There was no reply, but she saw his shoulders twitch before she lost him in the shadows.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Buffy finished her patrol, finding that if she gave it some thought, the slight tingles that she'd hardly paid any attention to before, would at least let her know in what direction the vamp or vamps were. She was sitting on a tombstone, waiting for the vampire clawing his way out of a new grave to get far enough free that she could stake him without getting her clothes dirty, when she felt strong tingles coming from behind her. Even as she whirled, stake raised, she recognized the particular tingles that said "Spike".

Choosing not to think about why she would know Spike's signature from any other vamp's, she waited for him to approach.

"Are you over it?"

"Over what?" he growled, pointing behind her. "Saving your delectable little arse? You better hope not."

"I better wha—" Just a breath of disturbed air behind her gave her enough time to duck away from the fledgling that had crawled out looking for his first meal. As she stared up from the ground, she saw Spike take a step closer to her. The newbie vamp glanced from the man to the girl on the ground, clearly unsure of what to do next. He had yet to notice that Spike had no more of a heartbeat than he did, his newly awakened senses completely focused on getting a first meal. He snarled at Spike and reached for Buffy, now on her feet and glaring at him.

"Where do you get off sneaking up on me?" She stepped forward and punched him, following up with more punches and a leg sweep. "Why didn't you just stay in the ground where you belong, huh?" While the bewildered vampire stared up at her, all thoughts of a meal evaporating as he saw the stake in her hand, Spike moved up beside her and put a hand on her arm.

"Hold on a second there, Slayer," he said, gazing at the cowering fledge. "Want to test something..." He reached past Buffy and pulled the vamp to his feet, only to punch him hard enough to knock him down again. "Huh! Let's try that again." Going into game face, he cringed in anticipation of the pain, relaxing when nothing happened. He leaned over the half-conscious vampire, snarling as he sank his teeth into the neck in front of him. He took several gulps of the weak blood, then raised his head and held out his hand. Buffy gave him her stake and watched silently as he plunged it into the other vampire's chest.

When he stood up, fangs still visible and blood on his lips, she stared at him through the dust floating away. Without seeming to move, she slipped another stake into her hand and waited, meeting his amber gaze. As Spike took in the look on her face, his triumphant grin faded and he went back to his human mien. They remained still, only a few feet apart, searching each other's eyes for some indication of the other's intentions.

With a sigh, Spike shook himself and dropped his gaze, holding out her stake to her, butt first. "Here you go, Slayer. You might need another one of these."

"Do I? Do I need my stakes, Spike?"

"Not for me, you don't. But it doesn't look like you're as sure of that as I am. Want you to feel safe, Buffy."

"You can kill again, and you want me to feel safe around you. Really?"

"Humor me, pet." He stepped closer to her, keeping one eye on the stake still clenched in her hand. "Not trying to hurt you, just want to see..." His hand lashed out and hit her cheek hard enough to rock her back on her heels, but not hard enough to really cause any damage. Before she could retaliate, he was on the ground clutching his head, his scream just tapering off to a moan.

He rolled over but remained on the ground, one arm over his eyes. Buffy waited a few moments, then sighed and sat down beside him.

"So much for keeping my clothes clean tonight," she muttered as she noticed she was sitting on the loose dirt from the grave. When Spike didn't respond, she squirmed around until she was off the dirt and could lie down beside him – leaving enough room between them that there could be no misunderstanding her intentions. She dropped her head back and stared up at the stars overhead. For long minutes they focused on the sky, neither one willing to talk about what had just happened.

"So..." Buffy broke the silence. "What do you think is going on?" She felt rather than saw him shrug.

"No idea. That makes two vamps I've been able to kill tonight, but a tap on your cheek sets the chip off." He turned his head to look at her. "Are you alright? Didn't hurt you did I? Didn't mean to, just needed to know..."

"Who are you and what have you done with Spike?" She turned her own head to meet his gaze. "Blond guy, about your height, always trying to kill me?"

"Ha, bloody, ha, Slayer." His growl was more annoyed than vicious-sounding and she ignored it.

"I'm serious, Spike," she said, sitting up and looking down at him. "What's with all the saving me—not that I needed saving—" she put in quickly. "—and not wanting to hurt me when you thought you might be able to?"

"Don't know. Don't want to talk about it. Don't even want to _think_ about it."

"It's weird, Spike."

"Fuckin' brilliant observation that is," he grumbled, sitting up and resting his arms on his knees.

"Just for that, I'm not going to tell you what I think is going on," she huffed, getting to her feet. "Come on. I need to take you back to Giles' so I can get some sleep tonight." Without waiting to see if he was following, she started marching out of the cemetery. She'd gone some distance before she realized he wasn't following her. She turned around and put her hands on her hips. "Now what? Aren't you hungry?"

The guttural snarl that answered her question had her reaching for her stakes again. They glared at each other across the row of graves until Spike's anger faded and he seemed to shrink into his coat.

"Yeah," he said with a heavy sigh. "I'm hungry."

"Well, come on then," she said, still keeping him in her sights. "Let's get you home and fed."

"Goddammit, Slayer!" His roar startled her and the rabbit hopping across the lawn. "I'm not your bloody pet dog to be ordered about and bribed with treats."

Buffy blinked at him, mentally reviewing the evening's events and conversations. Dawning awareness made her cringe at her own obliviousness. She walked toward him, holding up one hand as a sign of peace. She stopped a few feet away.

"I'm sorry, Spike," she said, snorting when he mimed being shocked. "I _have_ been treating you like some kind of big fangy... pet... instead of like a... a..." She trailed off, not sure of what to call him. While he waited, eyebrow raised, she took a deep breath and finished, "...a man."

"I'm sorry," she repeated softly. "I'm no better than those people who captured you, am I?"

"Don't be daft," he said, seemingly over his anger and striding to where she waited for him. He fell into step beside her when she resumed walking. "You're nothing like them, Slayer. "'s why I came to you, innit? You don't torture and maim."

"Thanks, I guess..."

They walked in silence for several minutes and were approaching Giles's apartment complex when he asked with deliberate casualness, "What is it that you think you know? That you decided not to tell me when I brassed you off."

"Oh. Well, the thing is, we don't know exactly _why _they put that chip into you, other than maybe as a way to control you for some reason, but it makes it safe for humans to be around you. Maybe they don't care what happens to non-humans. Like vamps and demons? Maybe the chip only works if you're trying to kill a human."

He nodded. "I expect you're right, luv. 's what I was trying to check out when I hit you."

"What if it didn't trigger the chip? Hitting me, I mean. Suppose it's just stopped working? Would I have needed my stakes?"

"Would you have used one on me?" he challenged. "Could you still stake me after we..."

"Spike, that was a _spell!_ We weren't really getting married."

"Witch just said you should marry me, didn't say anything about sitting in my lap all night and driving me crazy with—"

"I thought I was in love! And we said we weren't ever going to talk about that night ever again!"

"Right. So we did. Never happened."

"Of course it _happened_. We just said we weren't going to talk about it." Buffy stamped her foot, then gave an embarrassed laugh. "Okay. That was my inner four-year-old. But we did say that. You promised. You said you didn't want to have to think about it again any more than I did."

"Turns out I may have been bending the truth just a mite."

"Spike..."

He straightened up and took a deep breath, saying briskly, "Right you are, luv. No idea what you're talking about. Here we are at your watcher's where you can feed me and tie me up for the night." He nudged her arm. "Don't suppose I could get a nice belly rub before I curl up on my dog bed?"

She sighed. "Make up your mind, do you want to be treated like a... a person, or like a pet? I can't keep up."

"Depends, doesn't it? If being a pet means I get cuddles and belly rubs..."

"You are such a pig."

"Oink, oink, Slayer."

**Chapter Two**

Finding Giles heading for bed, Buffy filled him in quickly on the evening's activities, looking at Spike for permission before sharing what they'd learned about his ability to kill other vampires. Giles frowned, then nodded. "That makes sense, I suppose, given that all they needed was for you to be safe for them to be around. So, you can kill vampires, but not hurt humans..." He stared at Spike for a long moment. "Not quite a soul, but it could make you an asset to Buffy as she goes about her duties."

"Don't need a bloody soul for that," he snarled. "I'm not Angelus. I control my demon, it doesn't control me. 's why I'm still walking around. The younger vamps they tried the chip on fried their brains trying to bite. Didn't have enough sense or enough control not to keep trying."

He looked at Buffy and back at Giles. "It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on once I tried to bite Red and couldn't do it. Didn't know it at first, but when I thought back to what I'd seen and heard in that place, I knew what they'd done to me. Just didn't know it only applied to humans." He glanced over at Buffy, who was staring at him with a bemused look on her face. "Reckon if I want my spot of violence every night, it's going to have to be at the expense of other demons."

"Does that mean you're going to help her?" Giles came back to his original suggestion.

"Need to think about it, don't I? It's not like I can just jump from killin' slayers to helping one, just like that. Got my reputation to think about..." His voiced trailed off as he caught Buffy's raised eyebrow and the amusement on her face. "I'll think it over," he mumbled as he turned away.

Giles frowned as he looked back and forth between them, sure he was missing something. But Buffy's casual air as she watched Spike get some blood from the fridge didn't indicate a problem, so he went to bed with instructions to "make sure the vampire is safely contained."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Buffy waited until Spike came out with a mug of warm blood in his hand, then gestured to the bathroom.

"Do you mind drinking that in there? I really need to get some sleep tonight..."

His eyes flashed amber for a second, then he gave a resigned sigh and nodded. "Whatever you want, pet. Not got a lot of choice, do I? Watcher isn't going to take my word I'll stay here, and don't want you to sit up all night vamp-sitting me."

He followed Buffy back to the bathroom, sighing again as he stared at the tub and the chains waiting there.

"Do you want... should I get you a pillow or ... something?" She flushed and avoided meeting his surprised gaze. "I mean, it can't be very comfortable in there..."

"It isn't," he said. Without elaborating, he stepped into the tub, sat down, and held up his hands for the manacles. Buffy bit her lip, but knelt beside the tub and locked the hand restraints around his wrists.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Spike. I think I... I'd probably trust you if you promised not to try to leave, but Giles..." She finally looked up at him. "It's his house, and I can't make a decision like that for him."

"Don't worry about it, pet." He smiled at her, his expression softer than she'd ever seen it, even when they were engaged. "I'll suck up to Rupert tomorrow and see if I can convince him I can be trusted." When Buffy snorted her disbelief, he laughed and held up his feet for their restraints. "You'll see, Slayer. I can be very charming when I need to be."

"Could have fooled me," she muttered as she fastened his wrists and ankles to the pipes.

"You didn't think I was charming when we were engaged? I'm hurt, pet."

"That was different," she said. "And we agreed not to talk about it any more!"

"Did. Sorry. I forgot it wasn't a fond memory for you."

Something in his tone of voice brought her eyes to his face. What she saw there made her squeeze her own eyes closed before she spoke.

"Spike... I don't... I can't... It was a _spell!_ It wasn't... us, it was just the spell making us feel like that. We should be over it. We _have_ to be over it!" Her lip came out in a small pout.

His eyes focused on her mouth, he leaned forward whispering, " 'Don't, can't, should be...' none of those things mean we_ are_ over it_._ " He brushed his lips over hers before she could move her face away. "An' I don't think I want to be..." When she didn't pull back, he pulled her lower lip into his mouth and bit down gently before turning it into a real kiss.

A kiss that lasted until, with a small whimper in the back of her throat, Buffy pulled away and sank down on her heels, resting her head against the cool porcelain on the side of the tub. The metal chains rattled as Spike rested one hand on her head, stroking it softly.

"This is _sooooo_ wrong," she whimpered.

"Didn't feel wrong to me," he rumbled in her ear. "Felt bloody good. Felt good to you, too, didn't it?"

"That's beside the point! And stop petting me!" In spite of her words, she didn't move away, only turning her head to glare up at him. He smiled back and continued to run his fingers through her hair.

"Make me."

With a sigh, Buffy sat up, slowly enough not to be flinging herself away, but leaving no room for confusion as to what she was doing. She slid backwards and leaned against the wall, tipping her head back and shutting her eyes.

"Refusing to look at me isn't going to make it go away, pet," Spike said as he slumped into the tub.

Buffy opened her eyes and met his gaze. "You have no idea how good I am at denial, Spike. No idea at all." She got to her feet with a sigh and walked to the door. "I'll be back tomorrow night to check on how charming you've been." Without looking back, she left the bathroom and the apartment.

xxxxxxx

When Buffy arrived at Giles's the following night, she found him sitting across the table from Spike, both with glasses of something she was pretty sure she wouldn't like, her watcher with an open Watcher's Diary and a pad of legal paper.

"So, you're saying that in..." he consulted his notes, then looked at a page in the journal, "...1923, you fought a slayer in Poland and may have killed her?"

Spike nodded. "Sounds about right. I know the worst of the flu epidemic and the war was over, but it was still a time of scarcity over there." He peered at where Giles was holding his finger on an entry in the journal in front of him, trying to read it upside down. "Did she die?"

"Yes," Giles ground out, "she did. Congratulations, Spike, you've got one more to your credit than you knew about." He took a long drink from his glass and glared at the vampire, now trying to appear innocent and harmless but failing miserable as he added a nameless Polish slayer to his tally of slayers fought and defeated. The tension in the room ratcheted up as Buffy approached the table and stared back and forth between the two men.

"Um, Spike? Giles doesn't look all that charmed to me."

"Jus' a temporary glitch, luv."

"I fail to see how you expect Buffy's finding out you've killed another slayer will be a 'glitch'. More likely, she will see it as good reason to put you out of our misery."

"So, I take it this isn't going well? And what does he mean you killed another slayer? Did you run into Faith somewhere?" She glanced at Giles. "And I'm not sure I'd see that as a staking offense, Giles. Just so you know..."

"He means, that a slayer I fought eighty years ago died later that night. And what's a 'Faith'?"

"Oh." Buffy's shoulders slumped. "Then you've killed three slayers, not two?"

To her astonishment, Spike looked almost apologetic as he answered her. "It's what I did, luv. Wanted to fight the best, so I sought them out. Didn't always win... barely made it away with all my parts intact at least one time, but—" He sighed. "Can't say I'm not having second thoughts about it now that I know you better, but it's what we are, luv. You kill my kind, I kill... used to kill... yours."

"And if it weren't for that chip in your head, you would still be trying to make Buffy your fourth." Giles glared across the table at Spike. "And you want me to let her trust you?"

"Trusted you, didn't she? How'd that go for her when you sent her off with no warning, no strength, and no weapons to tangle with Kralik? D'you think I wouldn't hear about that?" Spike snarled and met Giles glare for glare. The staring contest continued with neither one backing down until Buffy slammed a stake down on the table, causing them both to flinch.

"Buffy is perfectly able to make her own decisions about who to trust. And neither one of you is a shining example of it, so get over yourselves!"

"Buffy... surely you don't trust him not to turn on you? Have I taught you nothing?"

Buffy stared at the man who had not known he was sending her to her probably death, but had made it a possibility anyway.

"You taught me that people can say they love you, and still lie to you and set you up to be killed—" She raised a hand when Giles tried to object. "Yeah, yeah, I know you didn't know you were sending me against something that dangerous. But you didn't know you weren't. And you did drug me so I wouldn't be able to fight back. So, yeah, Spike's a stone cold killer. But he's never lied to me. The times he's given me his word, he's kept it. So which one of you do you think I'm better off trusting?"

Before the vampire on the other side of her could begin to crow, she whirled on him. "You know and I know that the only reason you've had time to get to know me better is because of that chip. Without it, you were even willing to use a cheater magic ring to kill me. So get off your high horse and be nicer to Giles." She put her hand on her hips and glared at him. "And give me your word that you won't try to run away or get minions to kill for you so we can stop tying you up and Giles can have his bathroom back."

"I promise," he said quietly. "I'm sorry, Slayer."

While Giles gaped at him, Buffy gave a nod of approval and took her stake off the table.

"Okay then. What were you guys doing when I came in?"

There was an uncomfortable silence before Giles emptied his glass and set it down with a small thud. He tapped the journal in front of him and said, "Spike has been filling in some blanks in the Council's records from earlier this century." He shot Spike a quick glance, then cleared his throat. "He has actually been quite helpful."

"Well, are you through picking his brain for the night? Cause it's my turn to have him... to help me. My turn to have him to help me." Her blush didn't go unnoticed by either one of the men, although only one of them groaned to himself. The other smiled.

**Chapter Three**

"So, what's the plan for this evening, Slayer?"

"I dunno. I've got to patrol, but we really didn't practice finding you last night, so maybe..."

"Know a good place for it," Spike said. "We'll have to clean out the inhabitants first, but then we'll have the whole place to ourselves."

"The inhabitants?"

"Vamp nest. In one of the old mansions on Crawford."

"Crawford Street? Not—"

He interrupted before she could finish. "Not that one. Wouldn't do that to you, Slayer. It's one block over. Bit less substantial – less stonework, more rotting wood, but it's big and has lots of hiding places."

"Oh. Okay." They walked toward Crawford Street with their usual casual seeming but ground covering strides. "What did you mean, you wouldn't do that to me? It's just a house, Spike."

He snorted. "Right. And my grandsire's just another vamp. Saw your face when you found out in the middle of dinner that he'd been here. You're not over it yet. No sense putting you some place full of memories of sending him to the hell he deserves."

"Those wouldn't be the only memories," she said softly. When he gave a non-committal "no?", she continued. "That's where Angel lived when he came back from...from where I sent him. He lived there almost all last year."

"So good memories too?" She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a low growl.

"Not really. I mean, some, yeah. You know, Angel back and still with a soul, so that was all good..." Buffy went silent again as she remembered learning what he'd done with Faith in order to get the information about the Mayor from her, as well as his ultimate decision to leave Sunnydale and her. "But there was some not so good stuff, so yeah, all things considered, not one of my favorite places."

"Well, not one of mine either, and not where we're going, so no worries."

"Why would you care?"

"About what?" Spike began to walk faster, his hunched shoulders indicating how little interest he had in pursuing that line of questioning.

"Fine," she sighed. "Slow down. I'm not going to—gah!" She ducked as Spike came flying through the air followed by the Fyral demon that had thrown him. Cursing her lack of sword, Buffy was reduced to trying to knock the demon off balance so she could put a stake into his eye. A wild swing that connected with her chin sent her staggering back to land on her ass beside Spike. He looked over at her, vamp face to the fore.

"I'll take high if you take low."

"Got it."

Without further discussion they kipped to their feet and dove at the advancing demon. Buffy hit his knees, dodging the toxic snot and causing him to stagger. The weight of a snarling vampire smashing into his upper torso was enough to cause him to lose his balance and fall backward. Spike grabbed his horns and began twisting as he rode the demon's head to the ground. He kept wrenching until, with a sickening sound, the head came off in his hands. He threw it away and watched in amusement as Buffy tried to avoid the ichor spouting from the headless torso still thrashing around.

"Ewww, Spike! You should have warned me!"

"What the bloody hell did you think I was going to do? It's not like either one of us is carrying a silver sword, is it?" He held out a hand to help her up. "I'd say it was a job well done."

Ignoring his obvious request for praise, she spun in circles, trying to see if she had any demon blood on her back. "Do I have any icky stuff on me?"

"Oh for— hold still, Slayer." He grabbed her shoulders to stop her, then walked in a circle around her, still in game face. "You're fine. Not a speck of... stuff... on you."

"_Icky_ stuff."

"I will dust myself before I use a word like that," he growled. "Com'n let's go before they get out huntin' and leave the place empty."

As they neared the old Victorian that Spike indicated was their goal, Buffy slowed down and tugged on his arm.

"Why don't I practice on them? I can try to sneak in and find them before they know I'm there."

Spike shook his head. "You know that quiet, no breathing thing that fooled you last night?" He didn't wait for her answer. "You don't have that. You breathe and your heart beats – fast when you're hunting, I might add. And you smell like food. They don't have to see you to know there's a human in the house."

"Well that sucks!"

"So do vampires. So unless you're planning to donate some of that tasty elixir in your veins..."

"Fine. We'll do it your way. Kill them all and then we can practice. Let's go." Buffy pulled out a stake and checked to make sure she had her extras. "Do you want one of these?" She held one out to Spike, who shook his head.

"Nope. Fists and fangs. Got my weapons."

xxxxxxxxxx

A half-hour later, the house contained nothing but dust and Buffy and Spiked high-fived each other in the now-empty living room.

"Well done, Slayer. Not sure they knew what hit 'em."

"The ones you fought did. I heard one of them call you Spike. Were these... friends... of yours?"

"Not friends. Ex-minions, a couple of them. Minions that couldn't be arsed to help me out when I was starving."

"You used me to get revenge?" Buffy's triumphant smile faded and her eyes narrowed. "You were i_using/i_ me?"

"Don't be getting' your unmentionables in a twist there, luv," he said, edging away from her. "You cleaned out a nest that you wouldn't have known about except for me. And you probably wouldn't have been able to do it by yourself, so you needed my help. It's a win for both of us." He continued to move away from her glare. "And now we have all this room to play in. In fact, I'm just going to go hide now." He turned and left the room in a swirl of leather, leaving Buffy frowning at the space he'd just disappeared from. "Give me a count of fifty, then come looking." His voice drifted back to her.

"Stupid vampire," she muttered. Instead of counting, she tried to expand her senses to see if she could tell where he went. The particular tingle that said "Spike" to her was growing fainter, but her neck still felt as if she was very close to a vampire. Too close. Sliding her stake back into her hand, she tried to figure out where the strange signature was coming from by using her eyes and ears too. A flicker of movement at the corner of her vision had her bringing the stake up even as the stalking vampire leapt for her. His eyes widened at the last second as he realized his attack was going to land him chest first on the stake Buffy was holding. She watched his dust drift to the floor and scuffed her foot through it.

Losing interest in his remains and deciding she'd given Spike long enough, she set out to find him. She remembered she'd actually been able to track his signature to the kitchen in Giles's apartment, and she walked briskly in the direction it seemed strongest. She hesitated at the base of a staircase, confused briefly about whether it was stronger from above, or from ahead of her. She went up a few steps, felt it grow stronger, and smiled. "Ready or not, here I come," she whispered as she ran up the stairs. She halted at the top, scolding herself for not bringing a light with her. The upper floors were dark, unlike the lower ones that had candles and even some lamps burning.

"Crap!" she muttered. "Now what?" She remembered what Spike had said about her heartbeat and scent and decided there was no point in trying to be stealthy. She strode down the hallway using what night vision she had to avoid tripping over the occasional shadowy piece of furniture. She had just zeroed in on the room in which she was sure Spike was hiding, when she felt the signal growing weaker again.

"You're cheating!" she yelled. "You're supposed to stand still until I find you."

"Did," he replied, his voice fading as he moved farther away. "You found me, so I'm changing hiding places."

"I don't think I like this game." Grumbling to herself, she began moving again, trying to follow his progress and marveling at how silently he could move in his clunky boots. She found, if she stayed close enough, she could tell when he was moving away by the strength of the tingles. But when he changed direction, she still had to stop and experiment with going one way and then another until she figured out which way he'd gone... by which time he was so far away she had to run to get close again.

After following Spike all the way up to the attic and then down to the cellar without actually seeing or touching him, Buffy was beginning to tire of the almost-but-not-quite-a game. When Spike's signature became faint again and she'd followed the trail to the stairs leading up to the main part of the house, she completely lost her enthusiasm. She stopped part way up the stairs and plopped down on the one with the fewest splinters, vowing to wait until he came looking for her. When the tingles disappeared completely, she frowned in surprise.

"Spike?" she called. "I don't want to play any more. Where are you?"

When he didn't answer and she couldn't sense him anywhere, she got up and stomped up the stairs, mentally rehearsing the names she was going to call him for running off and leaving her. It wasn't until she was almost to the front of the house that she noticed the lights outside and heard voices shouting orders. Moving quietly, she ran to a window and peered out to see a small group of men in black outfits closing up the back of an equally dark van.

"Good night's work, boys," said an oddly familiar voice. "Maggie will be happy to have her vamp back, and to know the chip is still working."

_Shit! They've recaptured Spike!_ Buffy darted out a side door, keeping to the shadows and working her way toward the van. She could feel Spike again once she got close to the vehicle. The commandoes were standing by the front door, discussing whether they should take a run through the house to see if they could find any other vampires; they seemed confident Spike would not leave the van. As Buffy remembered what Spike had said about his time in their labs, she mentally promised him she wouldn't let them take him back. She hid behind the van and waited while the men went back into the old house, their flashlights showing clearly where they were.

Running to the back doors, Buffy tugged on the handles, growling to herself when they appeared locked. "Spike," she whispered. "Can you hear me? Try to open the door." There was no answer, and the doors remained stubbornly closed. With a sigh, she grabbed the handles and wrenched them as hard as she could, smiling in satisfaction when she heard a snapping sound and the doors opened. Her smile changed to a frown when she saw Spike crumpled on the floor.

"He's not dust," she muttered, "so all I have to do is get him out of there." She reached in and grabbed whatever body part she could, which turned out to be his leg, and began pulling. When she heard voices and saw the lights returning, she yanked hard and fell to the ground with Spike's inert body on top of her.

"Not tonight, pet, I've got a headache..." he mumbled, as she squirmed out from under him.

"Very funny. Can you walk?"

"Dunno. Get out of here, Slayer, before they come back and find you—"

Buffy jumped to her feet and began dragging him into the over-grown bushes shadowing the front of the house. Ignoring his weak cursing and scratches from the twigs and thorns, she hauled him by one arm, not stopping until they were both lying concealed beneath heavy foliage.

"Put my coat over us," he whispered, his voice raspy with effort. "It'll block our heat signatures a bit and hide our hair." He wriggled one arm free of the sleeve, and Buffy pulled the coat over their heads. She huddled into his side, breathing as silently as she could, while the commandoes milled around their van cursing at Spike's escape.

"No way should that vamp have been able to recover enough to rip off a door handle," one insisted. "I hit him twice with the taser and the chip fired too. He was down for the count."

"Right. So? You think the I-rescue-vampires fairy showed up and carried him away?"

"Didn't Maggie say he was stronger than most of the vamps we get? If another vampire or demon didn't help him, then he had must have done it himself. Even if he did regain consciousness and break out, we weren't gone that long. He couldn't have gotten very far. Spread out and search the neighborhood. He's probably holed up in one of the other empty buildings."

Buffy and Spike remained where they were, sharing the shelter of his coat and resigning themselves to waiting for the soldiers to give up and leave. Spike managed to roll to his side and pull Buffy closer, leaning in to run his tongue over her cheek. She squeaked and flinched away.

"Stop that!" she hissed as his arm tightened around her.

"Sorry, luv. Couldn't resist. You've got scratches on that pretty face from our little crawl through the shrubbery. I was just cleaning them up." His voice sounded much too happy about it to suit her.

"I have perfectly good soap and water back in my dorm," she said. "Just keep your tongue to yourself."

As she spoke, she became conscious of the way she was pressed against him, trying hard to deny how good his body felt next to hers. As if reading her mind, he lowered his head again to nuzzle her cheek as he tried to pull her even closer.

"What will we do with ourselves while we're stuck here?" he purred, nipping on her lower lip. When she stiffened and started to speak, he sighed and loosened his grip. "Don't get all 'We can't do this' on me, Slayer. Soon as I can be sure my body's going to obey me, we can get out of here. And since most of my parts aren't working yet, I'd wager your virtue is safe from me. More's the pity..." he said under his breath.

"I _heard_ that," she growled. "You just concentrate on the body parts you need to get working so that you can run. _That_ one can just take a nice long rest."

She felt his chuckle and smiled in spite of herself.

"Whatever you say, luv. Can't make any promises with you so close, though..."

"Spike..." Her warning was clear and he sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. Time and place. This isn't it."

"Exactly! I mean, no! Not exactly! There _is_ no time and place for—"

His hissed shhhh interrupted her before she could say what she did mean and they pulled closer together under the coat as they waited for what Spike had heard. In just a few seconds, the commandoes began coming back, grumbling about their lack of success. The voice that Buffy was sure she'd heard before said, "Let's get back to base, men. At least we can tell Maggie that Hostile Seventeen is still in Sunnydale and hanging out in this neighborhood. We'll get him next time."

Buffy and Spike waited until his sharp hearing could no longer detect the sound of the vehicle's motor before they crawled out of the shrubs more carefully and slowly than Buffy had dived into them.

"Ow! Ouch!"

"Problem, Slayer?" Well-protected by his leather coat, Spike had less trouble getting out without damage to his skin than Buffy did. His amusement turned to concern when she gritted out, "My hair is caught!" and he turned back to reach in and help her free it from the twigs it was caught on. He snapped the small branch off at the base and pulled her free, trying not to laugh at the small tree growing from her head.

"Not. One. Word. Spike." She combed with her fingers until she managed to free her head from most of its leafy decoration. "Let's go."

Biting his tongue, he ran with her, but at a much slower pace than they normally would have used. They stuck to the shadows as much as possible, now that they knew the commandos would be looking for Spike, only emerging into the open when they had to in order to cross a wide street or the parking lot. When they were safely inside Giles's apartment, they collapsed onto the couch, promising him they would explain as soon as they recovered from their race across town.

Giles looked back and forth between them, noting Buffy's scratched face and arms, as well as her tangled hair, and Spike's complete lack of energy. "What happened?" he said.

"He can tell you," Buffy responded, rising to her feet. "I'm going to go wash out these cuts and try to do something about my hair." She headed for the bathroom, saying over her shoulder, "He knows more about it than I do anyway."

Giles turned to the exhausted-looking vampire. With as concerned a tone as he could mange, he asked, "Are you quite all right?" The answer wasn't immediately forthcoming, but eventually Spike responded.

"Been better," he said. "But been worse, too."

"Are you going to tell me why Buffy looks like she's run a gauntlet?"

"Not a gauntlet, just a bunch of bloody bushes in need of pruning. Was the only place we had to hide."

"Hide? From what?"

"Those guys that captured Spike and put his chip in." Buffy came back into the room, her small cuts already closing up and her hair somewhat tamed. "They caught him again and knocked him out. I got him out of their vampire-van, but he couldn't move so we had to hide. The bushes were the closest place I could find."

"Why couldn't you move?"

"Did you miss the unconscious part? Chip went off when I tried to fight 'em, and the wankers tasered me while I was rolling around holding my head. Didn't wake up till the Slayer yanked me from the van, but I still couldn't move. Dozy bint didn't leave when I told her to, just dragged me into the bushes with her." He frowned. "Which wasn't as much fun as that might sound under different circumstances..."

"You told her to leave you?" Giles's disbelief was obvious.

"Well, yeah. It's not like those bullyboys weren't going to want to know who she was and why she was helping one of their escaped projects, is it? And if she'd had to convince them that she was taking me whether they liked it or not, they'd have been all hot to show her off to that sadistic cow they work for... After they recovered from whatever she may have had to do to them so we could get away," he added, smiling at Buffy. "I expect a Slayer is a bit out of their realm of experience."

Giles nodded. "I'm afraid you may be correct at that. She is probably much safer if they don't know who or what she is. You will have to be careful, Buffy, that you are not seen doing anything... unusual."

She rolled her eyes. "Like going out patrolling every night and slaying vampires and demons? Face it, Giles. If these guys are targeting vamps and demons, it's only a question of when, not if, we end up in the same place at the same time. I only hid tonight because of Spike. If I hadn't been protecting him, I probably would have just told them I'd already slayed all the vamps in the house and they could go home."

"So they never saw you?"

"Nope. They couldn't figure out how Spike managed to break the doors after they knocked him out." She grinned at Spike. "They probably think you're super-vamp now."

"By now, they'll have noticed those handles were broken from the outside, Slayer. Just cause they don't know about you, doesn't mean they won't be looking for you. You need to be careful."

Spike and Buffy were looking at each other and didn't see Giles's reaction to Spike's expression of concern. But they both heard the sigh he heaved.

"What?" Buffy stared at him.

"I'm just find it a bit difficult to accept that William the Bloody is suddenly so concerned about your welfare." He paused. "In spite of your having possibly risked your own freedom to rescue him."

"Nothing sudden about it," Spike muttered while Buffy just flushed and stammered.

"I... he... we just... and then we..."

"Well, that cleared things up nicely." With a wry expression his face, Giles stood up and faced them. "I'm going to take myself to bed. I'm assuming, Spike, with your narrow escape tonight, it is safe to trust you will not leave the building if we don't chain you up again."

Spike shook his head. "Don't have the energy," he said, "even if I was that stupid, which I'm not."

"And, Buffy, as they didn't see you, I presume it is safe for you to return to your dormitory tonight. Just take care that you are not seen doing anything beyond what would be possible for a normal human girl."

"I _am_ a normal human girl!" When both men just stared at her with raised eyebrows, she muttered, "Well, I'm human, anyway."

"Just remember they may not see it that way, Slayer."

"Don't tell me what to do, Spike."

"Right. Forgot I was the one being kept as a pet. Didn't mean to overstep my boundaries." With a growl, he got up and went into the kitchen to look for blood.

Waving her good-night at Giles as he went up the stairs, Buffy followed Spike into the kitchen and put her hands on her hips. "What flew up your butt?" she demanded.

He closed door of the microwave, then turned to face her, the difficulty he was having remaining calm was obvious. After taking a deep breath, he blew it out all at once and shrugged. "Sorry, Slayer. I owe you my freedom tonight. Got no right tryin' to tell you what to do. It's just... I... " He turned back to the oven and took out his warmed blood, mumbling, "I worry about you."

"What? What did you say? Look at me when you talk."

"I said I worry about you, alright? I don't like it when you're out there by yourself."

"Slayers are always by themselves, Spike. If anybody should know that, it's you."

"Not you," he said. "You've got friends, family, a watcher that isn't a total wanker... You've got help, Slayer. Use it."

She cocked her head at him. "Are you including yourself in that group? Are you going to help me?"

"Will if you let me," he said, moving closer to her. He set his mug down on the counter and touched her cheek with his hand. "Don't know why I don't want you to get hurt or killed, but it is what it is." His voice dropped to a seductive rumble. "The world would be a boring place without you in it, and I hate being bored."

"So," she whispered, watching his mouth come closer to hers, "it's just because you don't want to be bored. That's why you want to keep me around?"

"That's what I'm going with for right now," he said, brushing his lips across hers. "Seems like what will cause the least trouble."

"We don't want trouble..."

**Chapter Four**

Buffy gave up pretending they weren't going to kiss and shut her eyes as she leaned into him. His arms went around her waist and he pulled her closer, keeping the kiss relatively chaste, if not entirely without passion. He waited until Buffy's tongue darted out to touch his lips before deepening the kiss and allowing his feelings free rein. Within a very few minutes, they were both breathing heavily and clinging to each other with everything they had. Buffy had her legs wrapped around Spike and was being held in place by strong hands on her butt when she realized that his body was trembling with effort. She quickly dropped to the floor and broke the kiss.

"Why didn't you say something? I forgot you were—"

"If you think for one bloody second that I would have stopped you from wrapping those luscious legs around me, you don't know me at all."

"You were about to fall down," she pointed out, letting go of his neck and reaching for the mug of blood. "Here, drink this."

"Was not," he muttered, taking the mug and draining it with barely concealed need. "And if we did, just means we'd be horizontal and—"

"And where we would give Giles a heart attack if he came downstairs and found us doing... whatever... on his kitchen floor!" She blushed as she thought about what they probably would have been doing if Spike hadn't been still weakened from the night's events.

She moved away from him, pointing to the remaining blood. "Fix yourself another mug of that stuff."

"That _stuff_ is what sustained a pig until someone got hungry for bacon. What I really need is—"

"Don't say it!"

"Not saying it won't make it not true, Slayer. You know what I need."

"Not happening, Spike. Even if you _could_ kill, I wouldn't let you. You know that."

"Don't have to kill, luv. Willy keeps O neg on ice for me."

"And where does Willy – who I'm going to be watching a lot closer now – get it?"

"Well, not from running down innocent victims and draining them. If I had to guess, based on how it smells and tastes, it's old stuff from the hospital's blood bank and new stuff donated by winos who are willing to trade blood for booze."

"So, nobody died for it?"

"Doubt it. Even the hospital stuff was donated at one time."

Buffy chewed her lip and watched him as he began to sip his second mug of blood. "So, if I went to Willy's..." She yawned and walked into the living room, flopping back onto the couch. "Maybe tomorrow..."

Spike followed her into the room, putting her feet up and covering her with his coat. "Why don't you stay here tonight, luv? It's a long walk back to the campus, and not one I want you making by yourself."

Buffy opened her eyes and fixed him with a lethal glare. "_You_ don't want? If you think a few kisses gives you the right to tell me what to do..." When he refused to back down, meeting her glare with his own stubborn expression, she added, "I've been walking myself home in the middle of the night for a long time, Spike. It's kinda part of my job. Anyway, if you're worried about those ninja guys, what could you do about it? They'd just grab you again and then what would I do?"

"Rescue me?" he said with a sigh. "You're the hero-type person in the room."

"I already rescued you. I don't plan to make it a habit."

"Wouldn't really expect it, pet." He walked toward the bathroom. "Be right back."

"You don't have to stay there tonight," she said, sitting up and throwing off his coat. "You can sleep here. I'm going back to the dorm."

"No you're not. And I'm not planning to put myself in the tub, just rinsing the blood off my breath."

Torn between wanting to be there when he came back with fresh breath and anger over his assumption that she would do what he said, Buffy paced around the room before going with anger and bolting out the door. She thought she heard a shout from the hallway, but slammed the door and took off running before he could get back to the living room.

When she'd gone a few blocks without having to deal with a pissed-off vampire, she slowed her steps and began to move more normally, already beginning to regret the long walk back to her bed. She was almost to the campus when she came upon the last person she wanted to see, also walking in that direction.

"Riley?" She eyed his dark clothing, frowning as she thought back to the familiar-sounding voice she'd heard earlier.

"Buffy? What are you doing out here at this time of night?" He seemed shocked to see her.

"I... uh... was visiting a friend," she said with an innocent smile. "That's it. I was visiting a friend and didn't realize how late it was getting to be and—"

She stopped, suddenly overwhelmed with vampire tingles. "Oh crap," she muttered, reaching for her stake. "Riley, you need to get out of here."

"No, Buffy. _You_ need to get out of here. Go. Now!" he shouted as the first of a large group of vampires came into view. To her surprise, he pulled out a stake of his own and proceeded to stake the over-eager fledgling that charged him. When he zapped the next one with a taser, Buffy gasped in recognition.

"You—you're one of them!" she said, meeting her own attackers with casual ease as she carried on a conversation with Riley— who was not holding up his end of it very well.

"One of—sonovabitch—what?" he gasped as he tried to fight off several large vamps at one time. He was just aware enough to see that not only was Buffy more than holding her own, but most of the vampires seemed more willing to take their chances with him than with the quick-moving and deadly girl. Getting between the tiring human and the remaining vampires attacking him, Buffy said, "Put your back against that wall, Riley. I've got this."

While he watched, his pride warring with exhaustion and astonishment, she did indeed seem to have "got this", quickly and easily staking two of the remaining three demons. The third took off running, not looking back.

Buffy remained with her back to Riley, mentally reviewing her options for explanations. Before she had settled on a story and turned to face him, she heard a shout, "Slayer! Taser!" Her legs collapsed beneath her, and when she opened her eyes, every muscle in her body aching from the jolt of electricity, she found herself dangling from Riley's shoulder while he spoke into a communicator of some sort.

"Yeah. I don't know what she is, but no human could move like that. And the vamps were afraid of her. Got to be some sort of demon. I'll bring her in and—" The communicator flew out of his hand as Spike's Doc Marten connected with sufficient accuracy that it didn't set off his chip.

"Put her down... gently," Spike said, human features still to the fore, although his eyes were icy blue lasers. There was just the trace of a snarl in his voice as he went on. "Not going to ask you twice."

"Hostile Seventeen!" Riley relaxed his stance, switching the taser to his right hand. "You can't touch me. You know it, and I know it. I'm taking you both in."

"No!" The sudden fear in Spike's voice was palpable. "You can take me, but leave her out of it."

Riley blinked his surprise, then shook his head. "Not happening. If she's that important to you, then we definitely need to figure out what she is. I know she can walk around in the daylight, so she can't be a vamp, but she's not human."

"She's more human than you are, you miserable git," Spike said, his features shifting. "An' I don't care if my head explodes, you're not taking her anywhere."

"_She's_ right here!" Buffy said, flipping herself out of Riley's grip and grabbing the taser as she dropped to the ground. She faced the man she'd briefly considered her new boyfriend. "We're on the same side, Riley. Well, except for the whole torturing and maiming thing you do..." She frowned. "Not sure where I was going with that. Anyway, neither one of us is going anywhere with you, so I suggest you just go back to your buddies and do some research. Try looking up "Slayer, the".

Keeping an eye on the confused soldier, she held out a hand to Spike. "And you can't have Spike back. He's mine now." She backed away, pulling Spike with her, and only breaking into a shambling run when she felt it was safe. They ran, as best they could given what their bodies had already endured, for several blocks, then slowed and began walking, hands still linked.

"You followed me," she said.

"Did."

"You saved me... again."

"Uh huh"

Buffy stopped and pulled him to a halt facing her. "You shouldn't have done that. You could have been back in that lab, or worse."

"Wasn't going to let him take you there, Buffy. Not stopping that overgrown wanker wasn't even an option."

"Watching you fry your brain isn't my idea of a better option. Just so you know..."

He lifted their linked hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "So, what say we go back to the watcher's and figure out what other options we might have?"

"I guess so. My dorm room probably isn't all that safe just now..."

They began walking again, hands still linked. As neither of them had bothered to lock the door on the way out, they easily re-entered the apartment, just in time to find Giles putting on his coat.

"Oh. There you are."

"Which one of us were you worried about?" Spike asked. "Should I be touched?"

"I was concerned that you weren't here after giving your word that you wouldn't leave."

Giles glared at Spike and tried to pretend he couldn't see that Buffy appeared to be holding hands with him.

"Slayer went off by herself and I didn't think it was safe, so I went after her."

Giles shook his head and shrugged out of his coat. "I don't even want to know."

"Giles, Riley was going to take me to the labs! He _tasered_ me!"

His demeanor changing, Giles looked up. "He what? And who is Riley?"

"Oh, he's the TA in my psych class... and one of the commandoes apparently. He had a stake and a taser and a thingie to talk into..." She wore an indignant scowl as she said, "He thinks _I'm_ a demon! Me!"

Giles raised his eyebrows and looked at Spike for explanation. "Think the way she kicked the arses of a gang of vamps right in front of him may have had something to do with that. Don't know why the wanker couldn't just be grateful and let it go at that, but he zapped her and thought he was going to carry her off."

"Spike saved me," Buffy said, smiling at the vampire in a way that made Giles groan aloud. "He even tried to get Riley to take him in instead of me."

While Buffy and Spike beamed at each other, Giles went to his desk. "I believe the Council needs to be made aware of this situation. With Faith still in a coma—" "And _evil!" _Buffy put in. "... yes, and evil, I am sure they will not want anything interfering with Buffy's ability to do her duties." He stared pointedly at Spike. "Including her forming an unfortunate relationship with another vampire."

"None of their business," Spike said, returning the stare, his face calm but determined. "It's Buffy's decision to make – not theirs, not yours, not her Scooby pals – not even mine. It's Buffy's."

"Buffy is tired and achy and needs to get some sleep before she has to go to class and pretend she's normal."

"Quite right," Giles agreed. "Why don't you take the guestroom. You should be safe enough here for the night. However, I don't believe going to campus in the morning will be in your best interests. Not until we know more about these commandoes and their purpose in Sunnydale."

Buffy glanced at Spike, noting the sunken eyes and more than normal pallor. "You too, Spike. Get some rest. I'll go to Willy's in the morning and get you some real blood." She returned Giles's astonished glare and tilted her chin up in defiance. "He needs to get back to full strength, and that's not going to happen fast enough on pig blood."

"So he would like you to believe," Giles muttered, but gave no real objection. "Try to get a few hours sleep, Buffy."

She nodded her agreement, squeezed Spike's hand and left him as she walked back to the guestroom. She glanced over her shoulder, but he was already collapsed on the couch looking very much like the corpse he was. With a sigh, she continued back to the bedroom and fell face first on the bed. She was asleep within seconds. In the other room, Spike gave no sign of life as Giles tried to explain to the Council's head of security what seemed to be going on in Sunnydale. When he'd been assured that an investigation had been put in motion, and cautioned that Buffy should not risk being captured, he agreed to try to keep her hidden for a few days and ended the call.

He glanced at the dead man on his couch, checked the clock and resigned himself to being up for the day. He fixed himself a cup of coffee and settled at his desk to review what the Watchers' Journals had to say about William the Bloody.

xxxxxxxxxx

When Buffy came stumbling out of the guestroom shortly after dawn, she ignored both Spike and Giles to go straight to the kitchen.

"Coffee?" she asked. "Caffeiney goodness?"

"In the coffee maker," Giles said. "But you should just go back to sleep, Buffy. The Council agrees with me that you should keep a low profile until—"

"Low profile. Is that Council-speak for hide like a scared rabbit?"

"They simply do not want you captured by someone with no idea what you are or what your mission is. I should think you'd feel the same way. After seeing what they've done to Spike, I can't believe you would even consider risking capture."

Buffy sighed, sitting down with her mug of coffee. "I don't want to be captured, Giles. But I have a life to live. Classes to attend, friends to see, ex-boyfriend's ass to kick... "

Giles stood up and put his own cup in the sink. "Well, at least promise me you will remain here until I get back. I'll stop by Willy's and get some blood for Spike and I'll let Willow know that you won't be in your dorm or in classes for a day or two. Perhaps we can come up with a safe place for you to—"

"If you say 'hide', I'm outta here." Buffy glared at him, hands on hips, her obvious grumpiness at her lack of sleep lending more weight than usual to the intimidating stare.

Giles sighed, spotting Spike's bleary and barely open eyes peering over the couch at them. "You talk to her," he said. "Perhaps she will listen to you."

"'Right, because that worked so well last night," Spike scoffed, sitting up and stretching. "Be wasting the breath I don't have."

"At least the vampire knows better," Buffy said. "He knows not to try to tell me what to do. Too bad the Council doesn't."

"Buffy, are you opposed to choosing the sensible option just because the Council has recommended it? Because, I must tell you, that would be disappointingly short-sighted and stubborn of you." Giles gave his own glare right back at Buffy, holding it until she dropped her eyes and shrugged.

"No. Maybe? What difference does it make?" She turned her glare on Spike. "I think you're all ganging up on me."

"Because we're all trying to keep you from being bloody stupid and getting yourself turned into a science experiment like me?" Spike was on his feet; the snarl in his voice would have been frightening if it weren't for his words.

"I'll just leave you two to work this out," Giles said as he put on his coat and walked to the door. "Do try to do so without destroying my apartment, if you don't mind. I'll bring Spike's disgusting nourishment back with me."

xxxxxxxx

Buffy stared at her coffee mug, then shrugged and put it back in the kitchen. "If I don't have to go to class, I might as well try to get some more sleep" she said. She stared at Spike's still-sunken eyes. "You too. Until we get some good nutrition into you – and I can't believe I actually called what you eat nutrition –" She shuddered. "Until you're doing better, you might as well rest too."

"Would rest better if I had some company..." he said, sitting down and patting the cushion beside him.

When Buffy couldn't smother the yawn that accompanied her headshake, he smiled ruefully. "Wasn't asking you for anything but your company, luv. Know how tired you must be, and if I was being honest, I'd admit to still be a bit knackered myself... Not that I couldn't if you wanted to—" he hastened to add when she raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I could and would. In a heartbeat. If you wanted... Did you want to—?"

Buffy couldn't help laughing at his sudden panic. Shaking her head and still laughing, she walked to the couch and leaned over the back to pat him on the head. "Down boy," she said with a warm smile. "I'm not interested – not now, anyway. We need to rest, you need to get your strength back..."

Spike grabbed her hand and used it pull her over the back of the couch and into his lap. "Got all the strength I need," he said, nuzzling her neck and visibly inhaling her scent. "But, wouldn't push you, Buffy. Just don't see the point of us being so far apart when the watcher isn't here to object." He leaned to one side and stretched out, holding Buffy's rigid body and whispering soothing promises about respecting her wishes until she relaxed against him and snuggled into his embrace. She threw one leg across his to help anchor herself to the couch and rested her head on his chest.

"You better not be lying..."

"You have my word, luv. Go back to sleep."

""k. Promise you'll be here when I wake up? In case I need saving or something..."

"Not going anywhere, Buffy. I'll be here whenever you want–or need–me."

"My hero..." She trailed off with a sigh, asleep before she could finish her sentence.

"Not a bloody hero," he growled, then lowered his voice. "But I am yours. Always will be."

The End


End file.
